What to know
- The floating convenience store has gone viral on social media, with Torontonians calling it everything from “cool” to the city’s most inconvenient convenience store.
- Despite its realistic appearance, the structure is not a functioning store — it’s a public art installation created for Waterfront Toronto.
- The project was created by artist Trevor Wheatley and Cosmo Dean, Rashad Maharaj and Spencer Cathcart to highlight the role convenience stores play as everyday community gathering spaces.
- Installed on the harbour ahead of Toronto’s role as a FIFA World Cup host city, the artwork uses the waterfront setting to explore themes of globalization, cultural exchange and connection.
Floating just off Toronto’s Harbourfront, the tiny shop has become one of the city’s most unexpected viral attractions, drawing curious kayakers, canoeists and plenty of puzzled reactions online.
Some have called it “cool.” Others have jokingly dubbed it the city’s “most inconvenient convenience store.”
But despite appearances, you won’t be able to grab a bag of chips or a drink.
The floating storefront is actually a public art installation commissioned through Waterfront Toronto.
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So, can you actually buy anything from this store?
No. The floating convenience store is actually a part of a Waterfront project – meaning it’s an art installation, and not a real shopping experience.
Though that didn’t stop some Torontonians from kayaking, canoeing or steering a boat to the store.
Wheatley commented that it’s been fun to watch.
“It’s interesting because from a distance the work reads as a sculpture, but once people get out on the water there’s a natural curiosity to get closer and inspect the details,” he said. “It speaks to the tension built into the piece. A convenience store is normally one of the most accessible places imaginable, something you’re invited to enter without a second thought. Out on the lake, that instinct is still there, even though the work isn’t intended to function as a store.”
Artist Trevor Wheatley and Cosmo Dean from Top Top Projects had decided to join forces with and partner with Puncture, an arts-focused production company’s designers Rashad Maharaj and Spencer Cathcart to create an installation for Waterfront Toronto.
“The convenience store is one of the most familiar spaces in the world. Its appearance changes from city to city, but its role remains remarkably consistent,” Wheatley told Now Toronto. “They are also informal community spaces. You see the same person behind the counter. They begin to recognize you. Languages, products and traditions exist side by side. Over time, small repeated interactions become part of the social fabric of a neighbourhood.”
So, on the inside, the convenience store is stocked with products, signage and display cases, like any regular shop.
Why now?
With Toronto as a FIFA World Cup host city, the team decided to create a convenience store installation as a “cultural crossroads, offering a way to reflect the city’s global identity through an everyday space rather than a grand civic symbol,” Wheatley explained.
Maharaj shared he wants the World to make the world feel like one place.
“Strangers become neighbours, flags appear in windows, and somewhere in all of it, people are starting and ending their day at their local market, store, talking about a match. It’s a moment when the world just feels closer,” he told Now Toronto.
So, the idea behind the installation is to speak to those everyday spaces where global culture and exchange becomes personal.
Why is the installation on the water?
Wheatley loved the idea of putting the installation on water, associating it with movement, trade and exchange.
“[It makes] the harbour a fitting setting for a project about globalization, importation, connection, and Toronto’s reputation as a cultural melting pot,” he said.
How does it work on the water?
Dean explained the team took two weeks brainstorming how to approach building the convenience store.
“The major hurdles were balancing the fortitude of the build with the buoyancy, transporting it from our studio across the city onto a dock and into its final location, safely anchoring it based on strict engineer specifications, and working within a quickly dwindling budget,” he told Now Toronto.
In the end, they managed to create the installation 7,000 pounds lighter than capacity.
But from waterproofing to weight restrictions, it took quite a few sleepless nights to construct, but it all worked out in the end.
The entire project took about 3 and a half months to create.
